Bronson Centre solution
I want to congratulate Irek Kusmierczyk for his coverage of developments at the Bronson Centre building last fall.
After three months of hard work and hundreds of volunteer hours, those dedicated to preserving the vision of an empowered Bronson Centre community are more determined than ever to see this dream become a reality. There are those with the skills and determination to make it happen, but they are being held back by structure.
The situation appears complicated, when it is rather simple
First, there are the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, who own the building, developed the idea, and made possible the original concept of a community co-operative of local organizations to serve people in need. They supported this initiative for the past four years, until the building was filled, running smoothly, and approaching an economically sustainable position.
Second, some of these organizations worked with the Grey Sisters to develop the original vision for the building. The organizations have been preparing to undertake full responsibility for the ongoing management of the Bronson Centre, as consistent with the original.
Last, we have the centre’s appointed board of directors that dismissed the centre’s director and asserted control over operations without making its objectives known.
The equation for future success is painfully obvious: the wall must come down. Once removed, the love and hope will return, and these desperate weeks will become but a small footnote in what can be a truly glorious legacy of community development.
Keenan Wellar
Special Needs Network
Bronson Avenue
Appeasing creationists is wrong
I agree with your editorial (“Curriculum Refuses to Evolve,” Nov. 24, 2000). When Harris’s new curriculum almost completely excludes the teaching of evolution, it is time to protest. Anyone who wants to believe in creationism has a right to do so. But this point of view contradicts the consensus of scientists.
Creationists are often deeply committed Christians, and it is not enough to respond to them with a sneer. We should think instead about what they claim to be true. Creationism is founded on one interpretation of the Bible.
The first words of the Bible, “In the beginning. . . ” may not have been the best ones to use. Maybe there would have been less confusion if it had begun, “Once upon a time. . .”
The early Hebrews did not know every detail of how everything started. But they did want to affirm that the world had a divine source, and they chose to express this through parable. Those who regard the creation stories as literal fact misunderstood the purpose of the authors of Genesis.
There can be no legal limits on what a man believes. But it is a grievous misuse of provincial power to appease creationists by allowing their mistaken interpretations of parables to inhibit the teaching of scientific biology. The schools should teach biology as it actually is, not only as Harris would have it, in advanced Grade 12 biology.
Barclay D. Johnson
Somerset Street W.